1964 Falcon Travel Wagon

Well, my wife and I decided to go for it. My father and I drove to Fenton, Michigan yesterday and drug home a pretty well preserved and maintained 1964 Club Wagon/Travel Wagon. (-not without incident, dammit)

We weren't really looking for the added concerns that a turtle top would bring, but the van is nice, pretty darn dry, and closer to home than the one we were making a play for in Louisiana.

Maybe someone can decode this for us?

See the 'Oh crap' in my eyes?

The guy I bought it from had picked it up 5 years ago and the owner wrote down the story of the van. Its a fun one.

Overall, the van is great, has some fun touches. But will need to be (reversibly) adapted to suit our intended use. Being that we have 4 young'uns and two more that are late teens, we need more than just the two rear seats!

(major selling point, this bit of custom work..)

Not sure what all the extra holes could have been for..?

The van also has some anomalies, that maybe someone here can explain..?

We won't be changing much other than the seating config, adding AC, etc. Anything removed will be stored and stay with the van. I have some repairs to do on the top(face palm), but all in all its good.

Lets just say I paid far less than the asking of the 1967 van I was looking at in Louisiana that was in similar condition, and the seller here lowered the price voluntarily, before I even decided to head north to get it.These don't bring the near the prices of VWs. (a very nice Samba recently sold for 110k)`But I think the domestic offerings are way cooler. - and less cliche.

weirdbeard wrote:May I ask how much you paid for it. Also if you plan to remove any of the travel wagon accessories including the top please let me know.

Joe Van wrote:Nice Find..!!!...Its in Great Shape a Rare One for Sure.. ..

Hey Joe, Did you buy that Chebby from a guy named Andy Stuckey, by chance?

Thanks everyone.

Today I swished and swirled the gas tank, put in a can of sea foam, and filled her up. Put a bandaid on the exhaust until I can run a new one proper. Put in a borrowed battery. Got new 185/70/13s (slightly used from a friends 1980 BMW, before he put on some 15 inch wheels). Lubed the creaky step. Drove and got some pizza with my wife. ..Our maiden voyage.Also talked to Tim for a minute about his parts business. I need to call him back..

The van needs some front suspension and steering work, but what a fun ride.

Also, I want to gear the rear end to something that doesn't top out at 55. Suggestions?

I put your VIN in for a decode. Thanks for posting this VIN tag. We don't get many Falcon vans posted. Notice that the GVW and HP numbers are missing. This is because the Falcon vans were considered passenger vehicles and not commercial vehicles thus allowing them to be licensed at the cheaper passenger rate. Not commercial truck rates. Only window vans could wear the Falcon name. Pickups and panel vans were never designed to haul passengers thus can not be a Falcon. Not all window vans were Falcons though.

Love the info Duane! Thank you. Tim shed some light on the van as well. More specifically, that it's a deluxe, or has bits only found in a deluxe. Padded doors and walls. Aluminum trim on front signals, dash skirt, etc. What a good time this is! Been dreaming about one if these type vans since the 90's. Oops, we bought one! Thanks for all the info guys. Keep it coming! I have work to do and lots to learn.

I got the VIN info back from Jay Long. He runs the Econosrus yahoo group and has been documenting Econolines for many years and has a lot of notes that about them and the changes that happened over the years. Here's what he had to say about your van.

Duane, thank you, is this the one that was just on craigslist? If so I saved the pics. It had odd seats, front and rear - buckets that folded down into beds. And the table and cabinet/sink like you're describing.

Falcon DCW Travelwagons are rare. I can count the ones I've seen on one hand. From the DSO code this one was a special order, but not part of the "pool" of standard Travelwagons that Ford kept on hand - those had an 84xxxx code. This one was special ordered, probably with the pop top only from TEC and the interior from another supplier. Pure speculation, but I've got enough info on record to know what was normal.

The skirt, padded dash, and dual vents were standard for a DCW, as were the chrome mirrors and bumpers. The two tone paint was optional, and *something* must have been different than the standard Viking Blue and Wimbledon White two tone Ford would have sold that year.

The serial number of the top falls into the range I'd expect for 1964. The closest I have on record is SC-2950, from an August truck. One reference I have says that "about 1000" Travelwagons were built in 1964, and if so the serial numbers of the tops were clearly out of sequence. But that's not really surprising, considering the Travelwagon kits were sold in at least three different ways. Ford kept a pool of converted vans on hand to fill dealer orders for "standard" campers. And TEC sold kits through Ford to dealers, conversion shops, or individual owners so the work could be done locally. With that in mind there's no way the serial numbers of the tops could correspond with those of the trucks. TEC also sold different versions of the kits - pop top only, interior only, or pop top and interior. Again this one (if it's the craigslist one) probably was the pop top only version, with the interior and seats from another supplier. I have a brochure from a supplier of similar seats, which I've been meaning to dig out to compare to the photos.

Thanks again, for the numbers and info, and for the kind words.

Jay in CA

Jay has been a big help to me with his knowledge of Econolines and has taught me most everything I know. I knew DCW Travelwagons were pretty rare and yours looks to be in remarkable condition. Very nice camper.

I know its a ridiculous question. But in my vintage BMW world there are preferred parts souces for OE replacement bits. Do we have such a source for the vans? I want to get the front end rebuilt. Its a bit wobbly.. I had it in the air when changing the tires out, and I could move the front wheels vertically and horizontally by hand. Some was king pins, some was steering box slop, some was center(drag?)link/ tie rod end slop.. AS well, the center(drag?) link was bent from someone recently jacking it up on the left of center side. Its a blast to drive. We have been putzing around in it all day. But this is showing me where it needs love, And the front end is all over the place...

Nope. No where near Norris. I'm in West Tennessee. Jackson. It's 80 miles west of Memphis on I 40.

As for parts. Most mechanical parts are the same as Mustangs and Falcons. Any parts store can get just about anything you may need. Most body part sources are all gone. Used stuff is the only option. Some trim pieces are available from Macs auto parts and Dennis Carpenter Restoration parts. Most rubber is being reproduced by them as well as Restoration Specialties. Ebay can be a source for some stuff but prices tend to get out of hand over there. This board is a good source to find parts too. There are a few that buy and sell used parts. Just post in the E parts wanted section.

No need to feel and remorse on buying you DCW Travelwagon. Cool ride you have there.

Believe it or not, I found another falcon travel wagon near by. It used to sit in the field of a mopar friend years ago and I always thought it was a DYI camper top.. After buying this, I decided today to make some calls and find his number. turns out he had sold it to a guy who wants the motor and trans, but isn't interested in the top. I am going to go look at it ASAP.

FCC wrote:We won't be changing much other than the seating config, adding AC, etc. Anything removed will be stored and stay with the van. I have some repairs to do on the top(face palm), but all in all its good.

Lets just say I paid far less than the asking of the 1967 van I was looking at in Louisiana that was in similar condition, and the seller here lowered the price voluntarily, before I even decided to head north to get it.These don't bring the near the prices of VWs. (a very nice Samba recently sold for 110k)`But I think the domestic offerings are way cooler. - and less cliche.

weirdbeard wrote:May I ask how much you paid for it. Also if you plan to remove any of the travel wagon accessories including the top please let me know.

Congrats and good luck with the van. I too was interested in that Louisiana van but something just didn't seem right. I'm also from the VW community, but I can't bring myself to pay the ridiculous prices those VW vans are bringing. I decided last year that my next van will be nice Dodge A100 90", but an original Ford like yours will do the trick too.